TTIC NPH WB K8-1 CPU Water Block Review

nPowertek/TTIC is a company known for its massive, big air-cooling products. Right now, they hit the water-cooling market with a heat column powered water block. Can this combination offer good cooling capabilities? Let?s find out

Design

Design:

As a heat column/pipe is the main ingredient of this water block, it might be interesting to know what exactly it does:

One end of the heat pipe attached to the heat source. As the heat rises to the desired operating temperature, the tube boils the working fluid and turns it into a vapor.

As the evaporating fluid fills the hollow center of the wick, it spreads throughout the heat pipe toward to the other cold end. Condensation of the vapor occurs wherever the temperature is even slightly below that of the evaporation area. As it condenses, the vapor gives up the heat it acquired during evaporation and the condensed working fluid is then sucked back to the evaporating section along the wick structure. This thermodynamic cycle continues and helps maintain constant temperatures.

Attaching a heat sink to a portion of the heat pipe makes condensation take place at this point of heat loss and establishes a vapor flow pattern. Capillary action within the wick returns the condensate to the evaporator (heat source) and completes the operating cycle.

This gives a new dimension to water blocks. Water blocks nowadays have a 'horizontal structure', with the inlet placed right on top of the CPU. nPowertek now makes a 'vertical structure': the inlet is also place on top of the cpu, but the water makes an upward move. The outlet is placed at the end of the heat pipe.

To give you an idea about the height, I compared the water block to my Sony Ericsson T630 mobile phone: